What is an "Adjudicator"?
Being new to band can be very overwhelming. You hear words and acronyms being tossed about like some sort of secret code. Here are some definitions for things you might hear on a given show day.
Being new to band can be very overwhelming. You hear words and acronyms being tossed about like some sort of secret code. Here are some definitions for things you might hear on a given show day.
Awards: After a block of competition, there will be awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each division. There are also awards for Captions. Drum Majors from each band will come out onto the field, and will come forward to accept the awards as they are announced.
BOA: Bands of America. This is a national organization which oversees competitions at a Regional and National level. Their scoring and other rules can be a little bit different than the local competitions we usually compete in, so you might hear of adjustments in procedure or slight alterations to a show in order to adjust to the different needs of a BOA competition. All participating schools compete in Preliminary competition, followed by Finals which comprises the top 10-15 bands.
Captions or Caption Awards: These are different aspects being judged during a show.For most events those are Outstanding Music, Outstanding Percussion, Outstanding Visual, and Outstanding Color Guard. Like classifications/divisions, these are a standard set by the group overseeing the event. (UMEA, BOA, independent)
Caption Heads: Our band has staff members that oversee multiple sections as a musical whole. These are grouped into Woodwinds and Brass. Percussion and Color Guard are also captions, each overseen by a director.
Competition: A marching band competition is a full day event where many, many bands compete. Bands compete within their divisions, and 1 or more divisions will be referred to as a “block”, where all the bands in that block will compete, then awards will be handed out for just those divisions. These competitions are generally overseen by a sanctioning body like UMEA or BOA, with a notable exception for the competition held by BYU, which is independent. These events are very significant undertakings, and represent a large fundraising opportunity for the host school. Patronizing these competitions and their concessions directly helps the host school.
Divisions (Competitions): A competition is divided into classes based on both school population size and band size. For UMEA events, the classes follow the UHSAA classifications for school size, but are also further divided into “Scholastic” and “Open”, which places a cap on the size of a band competing in the scholastic division to even the playing field, where the open divisions can have a band of any size. It is common for a UMEA competition to be divided into one block for 2A, 3A and 5A, and another block for 4A and 6A.
Grand Nationals: This is the penultimate event for Marching Band shows in the United States. Held in Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. There are three days of performances, divided into Preliminary, Semi-Finals and Finals competitions. American Fork typically travels further than any other bands participating in this event. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, with alumni frequently citing it as the most memorable event in their high school experience. These are the top 150 bands out of the approximately 27,000 high schools in the United States.
Gunnison (or sometimes Delta): This is the band camp where students are taken to a remote location for intense training and rehearsal for the upcoming fall show. This is analogous to a football team going to training camp to install their playbook. The band learns much of the drill for the show at this camp.
Currently held at Gunnison Valley High School, for many years it was held at a community facility in Delta. The distance from friends and family helps tremendously with focus and drive, and allows the band to begin to really connect as a unified whole. Working from sunup to sundown, these four days comprise one of the things which truly sets American Fork apart from other programs. Parents are needed as volunteers, but care should be taken to not distract students from the primary purposes of learning to trust each other and their staff.
Mount Timp or Mt. Timp: This is the competition hosted by and held at American Fork High School. Usually held late in the season. As the host school, we need a very large number of volunteers to make this show a success. This represents a huge fundraising opportunity for the band program. Bands travel from across Utah and even neighboring states to compete at Mt Timp.
Red Rocks: This is the Utah State Championship event, held in St. George. It is usually held in conjunction with the BOA Western Regional event, with Red Rocks being held on Friday and the BOA Regional on Saturday. This is the last UMEA event of the season, and is usually held the first weekend of November. American Fork volunteers provide most of the event staff.
Steel Days: The city celebration for American Fork. In conjunction with the events, the band hosts a breakfast sponsored by Macey’s. With Macey’s donating all of the food, 100% of the money from ticket sales goes to the students selling the tickets. As with many other things, this event is only successful because of the volunteers which help to make it happen.
Staff: The marching band staff members are paid employees and interns who teach, organize and plan to make each marching season a success.
UMEA: The Utah Music Educators Association. This is a nonprofit group of music educators within the state of Utah. One of their responsibilities is to oversee marching band competitions in Utah held by high schools on behalf of the UHSAA.
UHSAA: The Utah High School Activities Association. This is the group which oversees all sanctioned high school extracurricular activities in Utah. This group decides on school classifications and region alignments. They also set standards and requirements for participation including academic minimums and residency. With a primary focus on sports, this organization delegates most relevant music functions to the UMEA.
BOA: Bands of America. This is a national organization which oversees competitions at a Regional and National level. Their scoring and other rules can be a little bit different than the local competitions we usually compete in, so you might hear of adjustments in procedure or slight alterations to a show in order to adjust to the different needs of a BOA competition. All participating schools compete in Preliminary competition, followed by Finals which comprises the top 10-15 bands.
Captions or Caption Awards: These are different aspects being judged during a show.For most events those are Outstanding Music, Outstanding Percussion, Outstanding Visual, and Outstanding Color Guard. Like classifications/divisions, these are a standard set by the group overseeing the event. (UMEA, BOA, independent)
Caption Heads: Our band has staff members that oversee multiple sections as a musical whole. These are grouped into Woodwinds and Brass. Percussion and Color Guard are also captions, each overseen by a director.
Competition: A marching band competition is a full day event where many, many bands compete. Bands compete within their divisions, and 1 or more divisions will be referred to as a “block”, where all the bands in that block will compete, then awards will be handed out for just those divisions. These competitions are generally overseen by a sanctioning body like UMEA or BOA, with a notable exception for the competition held by BYU, which is independent. These events are very significant undertakings, and represent a large fundraising opportunity for the host school. Patronizing these competitions and their concessions directly helps the host school.
Divisions (Competitions): A competition is divided into classes based on both school population size and band size. For UMEA events, the classes follow the UHSAA classifications for school size, but are also further divided into “Scholastic” and “Open”, which places a cap on the size of a band competing in the scholastic division to even the playing field, where the open divisions can have a band of any size. It is common for a UMEA competition to be divided into one block for 2A, 3A and 5A, and another block for 4A and 6A.
Grand Nationals: This is the penultimate event for Marching Band shows in the United States. Held in Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. There are three days of performances, divided into Preliminary, Semi-Finals and Finals competitions. American Fork typically travels further than any other bands participating in this event. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, with alumni frequently citing it as the most memorable event in their high school experience. These are the top 150 bands out of the approximately 27,000 high schools in the United States.
Gunnison (or sometimes Delta): This is the band camp where students are taken to a remote location for intense training and rehearsal for the upcoming fall show. This is analogous to a football team going to training camp to install their playbook. The band learns much of the drill for the show at this camp.
Currently held at Gunnison Valley High School, for many years it was held at a community facility in Delta. The distance from friends and family helps tremendously with focus and drive, and allows the band to begin to really connect as a unified whole. Working from sunup to sundown, these four days comprise one of the things which truly sets American Fork apart from other programs. Parents are needed as volunteers, but care should be taken to not distract students from the primary purposes of learning to trust each other and their staff.
Mount Timp or Mt. Timp: This is the competition hosted by and held at American Fork High School. Usually held late in the season. As the host school, we need a very large number of volunteers to make this show a success. This represents a huge fundraising opportunity for the band program. Bands travel from across Utah and even neighboring states to compete at Mt Timp.
Red Rocks: This is the Utah State Championship event, held in St. George. It is usually held in conjunction with the BOA Western Regional event, with Red Rocks being held on Friday and the BOA Regional on Saturday. This is the last UMEA event of the season, and is usually held the first weekend of November. American Fork volunteers provide most of the event staff.
Steel Days: The city celebration for American Fork. In conjunction with the events, the band hosts a breakfast sponsored by Macey’s. With Macey’s donating all of the food, 100% of the money from ticket sales goes to the students selling the tickets. As with many other things, this event is only successful because of the volunteers which help to make it happen.
Staff: The marching band staff members are paid employees and interns who teach, organize and plan to make each marching season a success.
- Orien Landis is Director of Bands, responsible for the whole program.
- Dana Slabaugh is Director of Percussion, overseeing the drumline and front ensemble for marching band, but is also a Jazz teacher and conductor, and leads Percussion students in many separate competitions and events in addition to working to provide percussion to concert bands, orchestra and symphony ensembles.
- Tiffany Miller is Director of Color Guard, overseeing the Color Guard program which is not only a major component of the marching field show, but also has its own performance competition season called Winter Guard. American Fork has placed in the top 10 in the WGI World Championships multiple times, and finished 3rd in the 2024 WGI World Championship
UMEA: The Utah Music Educators Association. This is a nonprofit group of music educators within the state of Utah. One of their responsibilities is to oversee marching band competitions in Utah held by high schools on behalf of the UHSAA.
UHSAA: The Utah High School Activities Association. This is the group which oversees all sanctioned high school extracurricular activities in Utah. This group decides on school classifications and region alignments. They also set standards and requirements for participation including academic minimums and residency. With a primary focus on sports, this organization delegates most relevant music functions to the UMEA.